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Month: May 2018

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning I fished with Jack and Becci Myers of Belton. Jack is an Air Defense Artillery officer in the U.S. Army. While he was deployed, he missed his most recent wedding anniversary. His wife, Becci, sent him a “menu” of things to choose from as a “makeup anniversary” when he returned to the States. This fishing trip was one of those menu items!

Jack and Becci Myers celebrated a belated anniversary with a little multi-species fishing on Lake Belton.

Becci landed our first multi-fish hookup on downriggers late in the morning after we’d fished live bait for hybrid and slipfloats for blue catfish.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: This was a multi-species trip in which we caught white bass, hybrid striped bass, and blue catfish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday morning, 29 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: Once again this morning we encountered hot, still, cloudless conditions which put the fish in a less-than-enthusiastic mood to feed. Nonetheless, we were able to catch a number of different species using a number of different tactics. We started the morning sight casting to white bass schooling on topwater feeding on young-of-the-year shad. We then fished live shad for white bass and hybrid stripers and caught both. We changed up once again and fished for blue catfish using slipfloats and fresh, dead shad. We wrapped up the trip with about 45 minutes of downrigging resulting in a solid catch of 1, 2, and 3 white bass at a time on 3-armed umbrella rigs.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) The shad spawn has run its course.

TALLY: 50 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Water Surface Temp: 83.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE from 0-3 all morning

Sky Conditions: Fair skies, no clouds

Water Level: 1.87 feet low and slowly falling thanks to evaporation

GT = 0

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1581 – topwater white bass

**Area B0084C – live shad for whites/hybrids, and slipfloats and cutbait for bluecat

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Memorial Day Monday I fished Lake Belton with Shane McNamara of Georgetown, TX, and his daughter, Grace, from Marble Falls, TX. Shane has been in the insurance business for 25 years and is a great asset to his church’s lay ministry. Grace is working hard in a customer service-oriented job about 6 days per week in the service department of a car dealership and hasn’t taken much downtime, so, she and her dad decided to plan their Memorial Day Monday morning on the water together. The last time I saw Grace was in 2011 when her dad treated her and some of their church staff to an April white bass fishing trip on Stillhouse.

Shane McNamara and his daughter, Grace, with Grace’s first hybrid of the morning taken just after sunrise.

Shane with our largest hybrid of the trip taken around 9:30a on a large piece of cutbait.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: With tough fishing weather (clear skies, light winds) and the hybrid striper bite tapering off from its annual spring peak, we put live baits down for the duration of our trip and came up with a mixed bag of hybrid stripers, white bass, largemouth bass, and blue catfish. We also did a bit of slipfloat fishing for bluecat and a bit of downrigging for schooled, suspended white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday morning, 28 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: This morning turned out to be a “cookie cutter” version of Saturday’s trip under similar hot, clear, windless conditions. My plan was to get on an area with both fish and bait present and make the most of the early bite, knowing (based on the forecast which turned out to be spot-on) that the late morning was likely to be very tough. We did exactly that and caught fish slowly but steadily for our first 3 hours, putting 39 fish in the boat, then adding only 3 more fish in the final hour. Live shad of all sizes and cutbait worked well, although smaller and medium sized shad got hit more frequently. We used a slipfloat rig for catching bluecat and we did a bit of downrigging when sonar revealed schooled, suspended white bass as I searched for bottom-oriented fish.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Area SHAD14 did not produce today. 2) Area SHAD20 produced, but it took about 10-12 throws to get sufficient bait as there was a nearby boat shining lights and running the outboard continuously in shallow water which spooked a lot of shad and made it more laborious netting than it should have been. 3) 82.2 in shallow water on the surface before sunrise means the spawn will not last more than a few more days, if that.

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning, May 26th, I fished Lake Belton with Don Hutto, his wife, Linda, their granddaughters, Bella and Marissa Hinojos, and their son’s girlfriend, Amanda Whippo.

From left: Amanda Whippo and Linda Hutto brought in this multi-species double within seconds of one another while fishing live shad under tough, calm, bright conditions this past Memorial Day Saturday.

Amanda Whippo with a plump Lake Belton largemouth bass caught on live shad.

Don Hutto with his granddaughters, Bella (foreground), age 4, and Marissa, age 9.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: With tough fishing weather (clear skies, light winds) and the hybrid striper bite tapering off from its annual spring peak, we put live baits down for the duration of our trip and came up with a mixed bag of hybrid stripers, white bass, largemouth bass, and blue catfish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday morning, 26 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: This morning my hope was to get on an area with both fish and bait present and make the most of the early bite, knowing (based on the forecast which turned out to be spot-on) that the late morning was likely to be very tough. We did exactly that and caught fish slowly but steadily for our first 3 hours, putting 42 fish in the boat, then adding only 2 more fish in the final hour. Live shad of all sizes and cutbait worked well, although smaller and medium sized shad got hit more frequently. We used a slipfloat rig for catching bluecat and getting them our of our spread whenever evidence of bluecat showed (dead shad with raw tails from their nibbling).

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Once again Area SHAD14 produced ample bait in about 3 throws this morning on shad which are still spawning in the 80.7F surface water hitting the bank.

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Friday, 25 May, I fished with long-time friends and past business partners DJ Fuller and Allen Sandor, both of Salado, Texas. DJ fished with me last week as a guest of Marty Wall, then brought his 9-year-old son, Sam, out this past Monday. I met Allen for the first time this morning. DJ is a homebuilder and Allen focuses on commercial property.

Allen Sandor with our largest hybrid striped bass taken on this morning’s trip. Although our target species was the hybrid, we caught lots of white bass today, too. Allen commented that he was certain we took more white bass half way through the morning’s trip than he had taken all spring running up the Lampasas River on Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir. Low flows and low lake elevations prevented a strong spawning run there this season.

DJ and Allen pair up for a “buds” photo on the first hybrid that fell for our presentations today.

Allen came up with the first smallmouth I’ve seen come aboard on live shad thus far this 2018 season.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: We targeted hybrid striped bass using live shad the entire 3.5 hours we were on the water this morning. Under bright skies and light winds, the hybrid bite was predictably slow, but we picked them up steadily throughout the morning, along with white bass, blue catfish, a pair of largemouth, and a single smallmouth bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday morning, 25 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s trip was only 3.5 hours in length due to DJ and Allen’s work schedules; the Friday before a holiday weekend is a busy day for fellows in their line of work getting people paid and coordination taken care of for a short week the following week. We fished live shad the entire trip on just two areas, the first in about 45 feet of water, and the second in 60 feet of water.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Area SHAD14 produced ample bait in about 3 throws this morning on shad which are still spawning in the 80.2F surface water hitting the bank. 2) I was surprised to catch white bass and hybrid consistently at 60′ with baits set at 55′ as that is deep for this time of year — more evidence that the year is still running behind thanks to the cold winter and slow spring warmup.

WHO I FISHED WITH: This morning, Monday, 21 May, I once again fished with DJ Fuller, this time accompanied by his son, Sam, age 9. As the school year winds down and the STAAR testing is all in the rearview mirror, the time was right for father and son to spend some time on the water. During this outing Sam caught the first hybrid striped bass of his life, the first white bass of his life, and the first blue catfish of his life.

From left: DJ Fuller of DB Fuller Homes and his 9-year-old son, Sam. The pair landed 52 fish on a shortened 3-hour excursion this morning on Lake Belton. We targeted hybrid striped bass, but also caught white bass and blue catfish, as well.

Sam does not appear to be traumatized by missing whatever the Salado Independent School District had in store for him today.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: We targeted hybrid striped bass for about 2.5 hours this morning, then changed over to slipfloat fishing for blue catfish. As always, we picked up white bass along the way, most of which were 2-year class fish.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Monday morning, 21 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: This morning’s trip was only 3 hours in length due to DJ’s work schedule. We fished live shad the entire trip, catching a majority of our hybrid by 8:40am, then a greater percentage of white bass through 9:10, then, to provide Sam with some variety, I broke out the slipfloat rods and we capitalized on the bluecat we had attracted to the area via out chumming. We used cutbait on these slipfloat equipped spinning rods to put a number of additional white bass, bluecat, and one bonus hybrid in the boat.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Area SHAD19 produced average sized threadfin this morning, and they showed up as late as I’ve seen spawning shad run lately — about 6:43 to 6:50. About 4 schools passed through the area in <2 feet of water over this span of time and that was it.

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning I fished with returning guests Jim, Dan, and Jake Deuser — three generations of Deusers. Jim has retired to Georgetown, his son, Dan, works in San Antonio, and Dan’s son, Jake, is a high school student in San Antonio who, by the way, is working toward earning the rank of Eagle Scout.

From left: Dan, Jim, and Jake Deuser cashed in on some late spring Belton Lake hybrid action. The shad spawn continued this morning, as did the hybrid bite.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: We targeted hybrid striped bass for the entire 4 hours this morning. As always, we had white bass, as well as a few blue cat and even fewer largemouth bass blend in the mix, too. The best hybrid bite came from 7:30 to 8:30, and then, after moving to our second area, from 9:30 to 10:00 as the wind increased fairly quickly.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday morning, 18 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: We fished live shad the entire trip.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Area SHAD18 produced really nice quality threadfin shad this morning around 6:25-6:35am. 2) Smaller sized threadfin shad and cutbait got the nod this morning; fish were again generally uninterested in large threadfin. 3) I observed several nearby boats using gizzard shad catching nil.

TALLY: 72 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:35a

End Time: 10:45a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Water Surface Temp: 75.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady SSE wind at 10-11, tapering up to SSE17 by trip’s end

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Friday morning I fished with Marty Wall of Killeen and DJ Fuller of Salado. Marty draws house plans, DJ is a local home builder, and the two have worked together for some time. This morning it was time to fish together. DJ had never really experienced the kind of continuous catching that we enjoyed this morning. Being a hunter, he compared the fishing to hunting in a high-fence environment in which the game animals have no where to go. We nicknamed this “High Fence Fishing”.

From left: DJ Fuller of DB Fuller Homes, and Marty Wall of The Plan Man home plans/drawing, took some down time and enjoyed a strong hybrid striped bass bite on Lake Belton this morning. After two days of decidedly “unfishy” weather (clear skies, calm winds), the shad were spawning and the fish were biting (and the boat traffic was very light!).

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: We targeted hybrid striped bass for the entire 4 hours this morning. As always, we had white bass, as well as a few blue cat and even fewer largemouth bass blend in the mix, too. Roughly 60% of our catch of 102 fish consisted of “keeper” hybrid of at least 18 inches in length.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Friday morning, 18 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: We fished live shad the entire trip.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Area SHAD14 produced really nice quality threadfin shad this morning around 6:00 to 6:05am, and lots of them. 2) Medium sized threadfin shad and cutbait got the nod this morning; fish were generally uninterested in large threadfin. 3) Generally speaking, based on water temperature, time of year, and the tempo of the shad spawn, I estimate that we are past the peak of the traditional late spring hybrid bite when the great combination of quality and quantity comes together like at no other time of the year. I suspect we’ll get another 2 weeks or so out of the hybrid before the beginnings of the thermocline begin to form and the fish begin to scatter horizontally and leave the deep water bottom haunts they’ve been in for quite some time now. Finding threadfin shad will be tougher than the “one and done” kind of net tossing that has been the rule for the past month or so.

TALLY: 102 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:30a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Water Surface Temp: 78.4F

Wind Speed & Direction: Steady SSE wind at 7-9, tapering up to SSE13 by trip’s end

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Wednesday morning I fished with Jerry Worley and Jerry Blalack, both of Harker Heights, TX. The two men got to know one another when Jerry W., owner of Jerry Worley Insurance Agency, helped Jerry B. out with homeowner’s insurance. Although we had less than ideal conditions (light cloud cover on blue skies, bright sun, and light and variable winds), we enjoyed a solid start and then moved frequently after our first two hours on the water to keep the fish coming in the boat. When all was said and done we tallied up a catch of 69 fish. Jerry B. landed both the first hybrid striped bass of his life and the first largemouth bass of his life. He was raised in the Pacific Northwest and focused on trout, salmon, and sturgeon growing up.

Harker Heights resident and U.S. Army Vietnam-era veteran Jerry Blalack caught the first hybrid striped bass of his life this past Wednesday while fishing Lake Belton. Jerry grew up in Washington and focused on trout and salmon growing up.

Jerry Worley Insurance Agency owner Jerry Worley, also of Harker Heights came out with me for his 7th fishing trip with me through the years.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: We targeted hybrid striped bass for the entire 4 hours this morning. The majority of our hybrid came in the first 90 minutes, we then struggled for about 90 minutes when the skies were brightest and the winds were lightest, then our last hour treated us pretty well as we landed a mix of white bass and hybrid stripers with a light but consistent S. breeze blowing and some high, thin, white cloud cover taking the punch out of the sun’s intensity.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Wednesday morning, 16 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: We fished live shad the entire trip

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) No pre-dawn shad sighted this morning and no egret/heron action on this very calm morning. 2) Post-sunrise pods of spawning shad sighted and netted at SHAD18 around 6:45a running along the rocky bank in under 1.5 feet of water.

TALLY: 69 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 6:45a

End Time: 11:00a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 73F

Water Surface Temp: 75.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: Light and variable through 10a, then steady and light S3 for the last hour

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Tuesday morning I fished with Allen Naff and his granddaughter, Logan Floyd, of Marble Falls, TX. Logan, age 18, just graduated from Faith Academy and, after working this coming summer in the family real estate business, will be headed to Temple College in Temple, TX, pursuing a degree in accounting. Logan had never landed a hybrid striped bass before this morning’s trip, but had enough fishing fundamentals down to do very well. We wound up with 73 fish in right at 4 hours of fishing.

From left: Logan Floyd and her grandfather, Allen Naff, both of Marble Falls, TX, did a granddad-granddaughter trip with me on Belton this morning following Logan’s graduation from Faith Academy.

Allen with our best fish of the trip. We enjoyed pleasant weather and a steady bite all morning.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: We targeted hybrid striped bass for the entire 4 hours this morning. The majority of our hybrid came in the first 3 hours, then white bass made up a greater part of our catch between 9:45 and 10:45am.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Tuesday morning, 15 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: It was pretty straightforward fishing this morning with great conditions — we had just enough thin cloud cover to keep the direct sun from making it too hot, and enough breeze to disturb the water’s surface and get the fish into a feeding mood. We fished on one area for three hours with a steady pick of fish, a majority of which were hybrid striped bass, taken on live shad. When this area went soft, we moved and got back into fish, although the majority of the fish caught at this second area were white bass. Logan kept ’em coming in on the portside on bait while Allen worked a jig for variety’s sake and caught white bass on the starboard. Bait definitely outperformed the artificials, but he wanted to see how this tactic worked so as to use it in other seasons back on his home waters.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Abundant shad spawning at Area SHAD 14 right at 6:00am.

WHO I FISHED WITH: This past Saturday morning I fished a birthday trip with KISD high school teacher Bob Williamson, his daughters, Bobbie and April, and his son-in-law, Ian, who is married to Bob’s daughter, Mary. The daughters all went in on a fishing gift certificate for their dad and today was the day to cash it in. As the bite peaked around 7:30am with everyone’s rod going off nearly instantly each time we let down either live bait or cutbait, 7-year-old April said, “We should do this every day, daddy!”. That was music to my ears, as I’m always a bit concerned about using live bait with younger guests because the ‘wait-factor’ can be a bit much for them.

From left: Bob, Bobbie, and 7-year-old April Williamson, each with a 3-year class hybrid striper taken during the peak bite, right around 7:30am during this birthday trip for Bob.

Bob landed our longest hybrid of the trip during the slower third hour on the water.

Bob’s son-in-law, Ian Stephenson, landed our heaviest hybrid of the trip with a larger-than-average threadfin shad as his live bait.

WHAT WE FISHED FOR: We targeted hybrid striped bass for 3 hours, then spent our last hour looking for white bass.

WHERE WE FISHED: Belton Lake

WHEN WE FISHED: Saturday morning, 12 May 2018

HOW WE FISHED: The bite went a good bit shorter this morning than it did Thursday and Friday, going strong for about 2 hours from 6:30 to 8:30 am, then really idling back thereafter. In our first two hours, we landed 54 fish and then landed another 25 fish in the last two hours. We fished live shad with good success for the first 3 hours of the trip, then, after hitting a number of areas and looking them over with sonar, I felt our chances of keeping 7-year-old April engaged would be best if we switched over to using artificial lures for white bass. We did pretty well on the white bass, which I found at a crazy-deep depth of 62 feet, via smoking small, white, 3/8 oz. slabs with Hazy Eye Stinger hooks attached. The white bass were not heavily schooled, but were holding tight to the bottom in small clusters.

OBSERVATIONS/NOTES: 1) Abundant shad spawning at Area SHAD 14.

TALLY: 79 FISH, ALL CAUGHT AND RELEASED

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:00a

End Time: 11:15a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 3F

Water Surface Temp: 71.6F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE12 at trip’s start, slowly tapering up to SSE17+ by trip’s end